Cyan Garamonde: Misc

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"Faithful retainer to his family's liege, with the courage and strength of a thousand men..."

—SNES version

"A noble warrior of a foreign land. A faithful retainer to his lord and master, he fears not even death..."

—GBA version

Cyan Garamonde is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is a Samurai and one of the finest and most noble soldiers of the kingdom of Doma. He has a wife Elaine and a son Owain. His Japanese name is Cayenne.

Contents

Development Information

Cyan's character stayed consistent during development. However, parts of his story was supposed to interact with Angela, an extra character that was eventually cut from the game. She was a "big sister" archetype and had a take-charge, sultry attitude. She would often flirt with Cyan, who considering his personality would always overreact to her. It is unknown if she was an NPC or playable character, but she was probably supposed to be playable as she had a whip as a weapon.[1]

Cyan's Bushido skill names are pretty simple but they were originally supposed to have more dramatic names, such as Chou Baku Hiryuu Zan ("Super Explosive Flying Dragon Slice").[2]

Character and Appearance

Cyan is shown as a middle-aged warrior. He has long dark hair tied in a ponytail, and sports a short mustache. He’s seen wearing blue body armor with a matching cape, and carries a katana by his side. Cyan is also the second-oldest playable character of the main cast, after Strago, though the Returner leader Banon, who joins as a temporary character, is several years older than Cyan.

Cyan possesses a distinguishable pseudo-Old English manner of speech, using archaic expressions such as "thou", "dost", "thy", referring to males with the title "Sir", and so forth. In the original Japanese, he speaks in a characteristic 'samurai' manner, using the pronoun "sessha" and ending sentences with "de gozaru". This prompts Gau to nickname him Gozaru in the Japanese release, or "Mr. Thou" in the English games. Cyan writes the same way he speaks, and when reading a letter from him in the World of Ruin the party instantly recognizes his handwriting. As a result of the deaths of the people of Doma, including his family, Cyan is plagued with survivor's guilt for much of the game, blaming himself for the fall of Doma and believing himself to have lost his honor. Due to the Doma kingdom's simple lifestyle, Cyan has an intense dislike of machines and has a great deal of trouble operating them, and he is also adverse to displays of affection.

Story

When players are first introduced to Cyan, the Empire is attacking his homeland of Doma. Cyan attends a strategy meeting, where he suggests killing off the commander. He does so easily. However, Kefka Palazzo, who was in charge of the attack while General Leo Cristophe was away, had other plans. He dumped poison into the river that leads through Doma, killing everyone inside, including King Doma, Elaine, and Owain. Cyan became enraged, and went to the Imperial Camp to get revenge. Sabin Rene Figaro and Shadow helped him do so. In return, Cyan agreed to accompany them to Narshe. The threesome escaped the base in Magitek Armor, which Cyan was reluctant to use.

In the forest, the threesome boarded the Phantom Train, and learned that in order to get off, they had to make their way to the locomotive and shut it off. They enlisted the help of a ghost, and succeeded in stopping the train, after fighting it. However, Elaine and Owain boarded the train at that stop, which made Cyan grieve. Despite this, he, along with Sabin and Shadow, headed to Barren Falls, where Shadow left Cyan and Sabin by themselves. Sabin and Cyan jumped down the falls, fighting piranhas along the way. They floated down the river towards the Veldt, where they were rescued by a wild child named Gau. However, Gau refused to talk to them unless they fed him, so they went to the nearby hamlet of Mobliz and bought Dried Meat. They fed this to Gau, who agreed to show them his "shiny thing," a scuba-diving helmet which would take them through the Serpent Trench to Nikeah after making fun of Cyan's archaic way of speaking. Despite making fun of that, however, Cyan and Gau grew close very quickly as friends. From Nikeah they took a ferry to South Figaro where they could easily reach Narshe, where they gladly joined the Returners.

Cyan and the Dancer of Nikeah

Cyan, Sabin, and Gau arrived just in time. Kefka was planning a raid on Narshe to get the frozen Esper. The three helped Banon, Terra Branford, Locke Cole, Edgar Roni Figaro, and Celes Chere defend Narshe and succeeded, but after the battle, Terra reacted with the Esper for the second time. She was turned into an Esper and flew away. A search party was sent to look for her.

The party found Terra on top of the tallest tower in Zozo, where she was being cared for by Ramuh. Ramuh told them that they needed to go to Vector and free the imprisoned Espers. One of them was Terra's father Maduin. To get there, they had to meet up with Setzer Gabbiani, the infamous gambler. Setzer was not willing to help them, but Celes proposed a coin toss, which if she won, Setzer would offer help. Otherwise, Setzer and Celes would marry. A two-faced coin was used to guarantee that Celes would win. Setzer agreed to help anyway. The group went to Vector, succeeded in recovering the Espers, and saved Terra.

Back in Narshe, the Elder decided to join with the Returners. An agreement was made that Terra would contact the Espers to attack Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan was a success, and Emperor Gestahl appeared to have surrendered. At a banquet, he asked Terra if she would try convince the Espers to negotiate peace. She and Locke would go to Crescent Island to parlay the Emperor's message. Cyan and the others were still very skeptical of the Emperor, and decided to stay in Vector to make sure the Emperor wasn't lying. Cyan took it personally to guard Kefka's cell. However, Edgar seduced one of the Emperor's maids into revealing the Emperor's true plan: he wanted to lure out the Espers in hopes of capturing them. They flew to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they were too late. Kefka had acquired more magicite and used it to revive the Statues and turn the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the apocalypse, Cyan found an anxious Lola in Maranda, who was worried that her (dead) boyfriend wasn't writing her. Cyan made home atop Mt. Zozo and sent letters to Lola in the stead of her boyfriend. He also began studying machines, as evidenced by the books he kept. When the rest of the party came to Mt. Zozo and found him, he decided to rejoin.

When Cyan returned to Doma and took a rest there, he was haunted by the Three Dream Stooges: Laragorn, Curlax, and Moebius. The rest of the party members went inside his mind and helped him clear his thoughts. They defeated Wrexsoul, a manifestation of Cyan's fear and anger. With a clear mind, Cyan learned the rest of the skills he needed to finish the journey.

In the ending, Cyan had to save Edgar by using a machine, something he was reluctant to do, due to his phobia.

Stats and Equipment

As a Samurai, Cyan's stats are heavily skewed in the physical department. He has high HP, vigor, and defense, but low magic power and speed. His weapons are limited to Katana and the Zantetsuken and his armor is limited to heavy armors. He can equip every shield.

Abilities

Cyan's special ability is called Bushido. When players select this option, a gauge appears and fills up, much like an ATB gauge. The longer the player waits, the higher level skill will be used. Cyan learns new Bushido skills as he levels up, and he learns all of his skills after his dream in Doma Castle.

Cyan is also the character referred to by the name of the "Psycho Cyan Bug," which involves, among other things, his Bushido.

Musical Themes

Cyan

Trouble with the audio sample?

Cyan's theme is named for him, and it is also the main theme in Doma Castle. It is mixed into the ending.

In the ending theme of Dissidia Final Fantasy, which is comprised of the ending themes of the first ten Final Fantasy games, the Cyan's Theme segment of the Final Fantasy VI ending is placed as the representative piece for Final Fantasy VI.

Trivia

Cyan holding a Dango.

Curiously, an official piece of artwork for Final Fantasy VI depicts Cyan holding what a tradional japanese Dango.